JOSÉ GURVICH (Jieznas, Lithuania, 1927 - New York,... Lot 33

JOSÉ GURVICH (Jieznas, Lithuania, 1927 - New York, 1974). Untitled. Ink on paper. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 17 x 26 cm; 26 x 34 cm (frame). A key figure in the Taller Torres García and in Uruguayan art in general, José Gurvich was a painter, muralist and ceramist whose language was based on Constructive Universalism. He was an active member of the Asociación de Arte Constructivo until its closure, and became the most direct pupil of Joaquín Torres García, whose influence is evident in his work of that period. From the mid-1950s, he undertook several trips to Europe, where he came into contact with the masters of painting. In 1955 he held an exhibition in Rome. That same year saw an important change in his work, the main driving force of which was the reencounter with his Jewish roots during his stay in the Ramot Menasche kibbutz in Israel, where his sister was already living. In 1966 he moved back to Montevideo, where he continued to work in ceramics, developing an increasingly peculiar style. In 1967 he exhibited more than 200 works at the National Commission of Fine Arts and in 1973 he exhibited at the Jewish Museum in New York. After Gurvich's death, his work has been shown in solo exhibitions at museums such as the José Luis Cuevas Museum in Mexico, the Negev Museum of Art in Israel, the Museum of Latin American Art in California, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Chile and the Museo Torres García in Montevideo, as well as in galleries in New York, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Madrid.